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It started with a noogie, as do most great legends in the annals of rock 'n' roll.

OK, maybe not most. Probably almost none, actually. But this one does.

"Are you familiar with the noogie -- where you grind your knuckles into someone's head?" Flea wanted to know.

Yes. We are familiar with the noogie. Tell us more, please.

"I had our friend Tony Shurr in a headlock. I was giving him a noogie. Anthony didn't take kindly to it."

This was at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, where Flea (or Michael Balzary, as he was known then) and Anthony Kiedis were in 10th grade.

Kiedis, too, remembers that fateful moment well.

"Flea was just showing rough affection," he said.

"But I didn't know that. . . . If memory serves, I threatened Flea at that point in time, saying, 'If you don't take your hands off this kid, you're gonna have trouble with me.'

"We looked at each other like, 'Who the [expletive] are you?' And that began our lengthy friendship."

All these years later, vocalist Kiedis (an erstwhile child actor who appeared in the Sylvester Stallone film "F.I.S.T.") and bass player Flea (who showed promise at a young age as a jazz trumpeter) are still friends. They're the same age: 49. And they share a subatomic bond at the nucleus of their punk-rooted, funk-loving, sock-it-to-'em group, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Now they're headed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with longtime drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, as well as four ex-bandmates: drummers Jack Irons and Cliff Martinez and guitarists John Frusciante and the late Hillel Slovak.

Chris Rock, a friend of the band, will serve as their presenter at the induction ceremony.

From the beginning, the Chili Peppers were ready for musical adventure.

"The unspoken deal for us was, 'Anything goes,' " Kiedis said.

"We never wanted to limit ourselves. We wanted an open-ended definition that could grow, kind of in the spirit of American music in general.

"We had the energy of the punk-rock scene that we were around at the time. But we also were heavily funk-influenced."

After building a buzz on the L.A. club scene (where they occasionally shared bills with fellow 2012 Rock Hall inductees Guns N' Roses), the Chili Peppers released a self-titled debut in 1984. By then, charter members Slovak and Irons had left to focus on their other band, What Is This?

Slovak was back in the fold for the Chili Peppers' 1985 follow-up, "Freaky Styley." It was produced by Parliament-Funkadelic maestro George Clinton, on the bill for the Rock Hall's Concert for Cleveland tonight at The Q.

"We stayed at George's house in Detroit, did preproduction in his living room and recorded at United Sound, with Aretha Franklin working down the hall," said Martinez, 58, who grew up in Columbus.

"Hillel was doing guitar overdubs and hit a bad note. He said, 'Stop the tape.'

"George said, 'Wait a minute -- play that back.'

"Hillel, who was embarrassed about the mistake, said, 'Just erase it and let me take another shot.'

"George said, 'No. Let's hear what you just did.'

"It was obviously a bad note. George said, 'Let's hear it one more time.' Hillel was ready to pull his hair out.

"And George goes: 'Now THAT'S the funk! Let's cut that up and fly it around.' You know, put it everywhere on the track.

"That was a great teaching moment. It was the definition of funk. When George said it, we believed it."

'Sock Man!' is born

Few bands accomplished more while wearing less.

Early in their career, the Chili Peppers became infamous for going onstage with each member wearing little more than a strategically placed tube sock.

"We used to do it around the house, when Anthony and Hillel and I lived together," Flea said.

"It was just this funny thing to do. Then we did a gig one night, and everyone was screaming for an encore. We were so excited. I can't remember if it was Anthony or Hillel, but one of them said, 'Sock Man!'

Cleveland Talks Rock: The Red Hot Chili PeppersThe Red Hot Chili Peppers have been frequent cover boys at Cleveland-based Alternative Press magazine, dating back to the original alt-rock revolution of the early 1990s. Some critics and hardcore indie fans may dismiss them as lightweight and goofy. But not AP Music Editor Scott Heisel. He sings the band's praises in our latest Cleveland Talks Rock video. The Chili Peppers will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during ceremonies April 14 in Cleveland.

"We were like, 'Wooooo!' We just did it without thinking. It went over like gangbusters. And being showmen, we thought it was a good look."

What began as a joke soon became an essential part of the act. "You're going to do the sock thing, aren't you?" promoters invariably asked whenever and wherever the Chili Peppers would perform.

The "Sock Man!" shtick was immortalized on the cover of their 1988 "Abbey Road" EP.

"We were really into being showmen," Flea said.

"We like Sammy Davis Jr. and we like Louis Armstrong. We'll do anything we can to entertain you. We're here to uplift you. We'll do ANYTHING.

"We're not trying to be Bon Jovi. We're not trying to make corporate songs. We're just doing our thing and being crazy and having fun. We're not trying to get anything out of it, outside of a good time."

Yet the Chili Peppers were no strangers to tragedy, either.

Slovak died of a heroin overdose in 1988. He was 26.

"He was a real artist," Kiedis said.

"He lived the life of a musician. And a painter. And a poet. And a lover. That was his deal.

"He was an amazing friend. . . . He made people feel very comfortable about being themselves around him.

"It's a very strange thing, that his trajectory of greatness was so short-lived, 'cause it would've just been a wonder to watch him evolve. But it was not meant to be."

Kiedis paused and cleared his throat before adding:

"His energy and his creation, for sure, live on very distinctly in everything we do."

Frusciante was an 18-year-old wunderkind when he stepped in to fill the void left by Slovak.

Soon afterwards, Smith tried out for the drummer spot, vacant again after Irons had briefly returned to the group following Martinez's departure in 1986.

"I think I wore a Metallica shirt to the audition," Smith recalled, laughing.

"They were definitely looking at me like, 'Oh, God -- who's this guy?' Like, 'OK, let's get it on and get it over with.' But once we started playing, all that went by the wayside."

From college-radio darlings to mainstream supertars

The Chili Peppers teamed up with producer Rick Rubin for the "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" album, released in 1991. The multiplatinum breakthrough elevated them from college-radio darlings to mainstream superstars.

"I think it's the first time that the band's real sound was captured on record," said Smith, 50.

"It was the four of us really working together as a unit. The elements just came together. It was a fun and exciting time."

Kiedis knew they were onto something special as soon as Flea plunked down the throbbing bass riff for "Give It Away" at rehearsal.

"There was this uncontainable smile on his face," Kiedis said.

"We caught eyes and looked at each other, like, 'This is our new [expletive], right here.' I stepped up to the mike and just started free-styling. It was one of those songs that was born within seconds."

The mellow ballad "Under the Bridge," a Top 5 single and the group's highest-charting hit to date, was inspired by Kiedis' own struggles with drug addiction.

"In the darkness, we learned the greatest lessons. . . . John [Frusciante] came over my house to work on 'Under the Bridge' with me. He was like, 'OK, sing me the melody -- I'm going to try to find the chords.' We considered probably five different chord options for each bit of the song."

Not every musician who ever passed through the ranks of the Chili Peppers will share in the Rock Hall honor.

"The only person who really was in question was the lovely and talented Mr. Dave Navarro," Kiedis said.

Navarro spent five years on guitar with the group in the '90s.

"He's in this other band, which may in fact be inducted itself one day, called Jane's Addiction," Kiedis said.

"I think that's the band closest to his heart, and that most represents his contribution to the world in terms of music. So maybe it makes more sense for him to be inducted one day as a member of Jane's Addiction."

Between solo pursuits, Frusciante played with the Chili Peppers on and off, well into the new millennium. He is not expected to attend the inductions.

"I love John," Flea said.

"There's no way we could've achieved what we did without him. . . . But having left the band -- and this is just from my perspective -- it's important for him to move on."

Irons currently plays with the Wallflowers. He also did a stint with Pearl Jam.

After Martinez parted ways with the Chili Peppers, he became a film composer. His recent credits include "Drive" and "Contagion."

As for Kiedis, Flea, Smith and new recruit Klinghoffer, they're on tour behind the Red Hot Chili Peppers' tenth album, "I'm with You." It came out last year.

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